1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle door latch apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been proposed a related art door latch apparatus, which is made by attaching a meshing portion assembly to a operating portion assembly so that the meshing portion assembly and the operating portion assembly are made into an integral unit (refer to Japanese Patent No. 3758966, for example). Here, the meshing portion assembly includes a latch that is capable of being brought into engagement with a striker on a vehicle body side and a pawl that is capable of being brought into engagement with the latch. The operating portion assembly includes an operation lever that enables the pawl to operate and a casing that supports the operation lever.
In the related art vehicle door latch apparatus, the meshing portion assembly is configured to be prevented from being dislocated from the operating portion assembly by causing the meshing portion assembly to slide to fit in the casing so that a locking groove provided in a sub-base plate of the meshing portion assembly is brought into engagement with a locking shaft portion of a resin support pin that pivotally supports the operation lever on the casing. That is, the resin support pin, which pivotally supports the operation lever on the casing, is necessary prior to the integration of the meshing portion assembly and the operating portion assembly. Thus, the number of components involved therein is increased, and thus production cost of the related art door latch apparatus is increased.